To heck with the Vespa. Not enough room for batteries. Here is a design that will have less drag and can be easily faired. http://www.voidstar.com/bff/images/recped.jpg Plenty of room for batteries under the legs with nice balance. It will handle well and be fun to drive. You could easily weld any front suspension and rear suspension to a simple battery rack for the middle of the bike. It simply put would be two wheels to carry a battery rack and a human or two. Lawrence Rhodes... ----- Original Message ----- From: "jerry dycus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 7:27 PM Subject: Re: Electric MotorScooter
> Hi Mark and All, > --- Mark Hastings <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Someone mentioned a few weeks back about a vespa > > and converting it to > > electric. I haven't seen anything since.. I was > > thinking about doing such a > > conversion but am not married to any one scooter > > type. Is it possible to > > make an electric scooter that will: > > Go 12 miles with some hills every day... > > Go 35-40mph with a few stop lights.. > > Carry about 150lbs (a person and a bunch of > > equipment... > Yes it is. > A simple way is to use a B+S type mini-bike, > use 2 to 4, 50 to 100 amphr true deep cycle batts up > to 30 mph. > Faster than that you need a suspension. Find a > small motorcycle, 4- 100 amphr batts, an e-tec PM > motor and gear it for 40 mph max. > Over 35 mph on a motorcycle really sucks amps > because of air drag. If you want range like 30+ miles > you need to stay under 40mph. > I have a a 3 wheel bike like EV called a Pedal > Power Cycle Chair that uses moped wheels stock, no > pedals and had a little 250 watt motor. > I did the Tim Allen thing to it and put in more > power with a golf cart motor! > Using 2 130 amphr used UPS batteries and a go > button ( 2 golfcart contacts on 2 fiberglass leaves > spaced apart by a 3/4" piece of wood) and a DPDT > switch for 12/24v. Finger pressure on 1 leaf worked > it. > It worked fairly well except I keep pulling > wheelies on purpose with it despite my 200 lb butt 18" > and the 132 lbs of battery 24" ahead of the rear axle. > It was fun until I stripped the sprocket about 50 > wheelies later ;-). > I never was able, needed, to run it's full range > but probably 40/50 miles at 25 mph. > Are not Vespa's rear suspension mixed with the > engine and not very easy to convert? > Older Vespa are worth a lot, collectable in the > US, so you may not be able to find one anyway. > Hope this helps, > jerry dycus > > I would really like one that would carry say 450 > > pounds and carry 2 > > people but I would be happy with the first.. I might > > even be happy with one > > that could carry 250lbs, go 3 miles, and go up a > > hill at 30mph (for my > > commute to a better train station so I don't have to > > stand an hour all > > sweaty from the walk) > > Are any or all of these possible? Has anyone > > done this or have any > > reccommendations on what kind of scooter I might > > use? > > I thought of a bike but for many reasons would > > rather do a scooter if at > > all possible... > > > > Thanks for any ideas on this or experiences. > > Mark Hastings > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs > http://www.hotjobs.com >
